Mansur came again the following day to see me; with him and Hamed I visited the villages of Jara and Menzel, where I intended making purchases for our National Museum, and therefore required their help.
AT GABÉS.
In the great Sok (market-place) I bought agricultural implements, hoes and spades,—which were made under my eye,—one of the primitive ploughs and its harness of plaited esparto grass; and, lastly, a collection of garments. Consequently there was much noise and lively quarrelling, though it did not reach quite the same pitch as recently in Lasheish.
In the afternoon I took a carriage with the British Vice-Consul Galleja and his brother, Cesare Galleja, two exceedingly obliging men, and drove to the village of Menzel, as I wished to obtain some reliable information from an Arab there, about the marriage customs of the country.
On our return we met the Khalifa of Gabés, who told us he was also invited to the wedding at Hadeij, but had been obliged to refuse as he could not leave Gabés, General Allegro being absent; therefore in the interim, the government of the whole district fell entirely on himself. He advised me to take with me a small bridal gift, so the same evening I bought a fine haik.
The military officers at Gabés are nearly all unmarried. Those of the same grade mess together—that is to say, they engage a cook who provides for them.
The lieutenants of the 4th African Light Battalion and some other officers invited me to dine at their mess. We were altogether a score of men, and I spent a bright and pleasant evening amongst my new African friends; and made acquaintances which were to be renewed some days later in the south, whither several of them were immediately proceeding.
This was the first, but not the last, time that I while in these regions had the pleasure of replying to the toast of “To the Danish soldier,” with “I drink long life to the French army,” with whom I served eleven years ago when they were fighting in the south.
On the 22nd October, Hamed and I again left Gabés, starting with the dawn at 5.30 a.m., and proceeding this time in a westerly direction.